Am I lucky? - My MG ZS EV Trophy LR experience

[Jerry]

Hi – I new to posting on the forum but have been following for the past 20 months.

I’m amazed at the high volume of problems people seem to have.

I’ve owned both Gen1 ZS EV and for the last 14 months Gen2. I don’t know if I’m lucky or just able to read the manufacturers manual but the only problem I’ve had was the ‘clicking’ occasionally coming from the steering wheel/column. That was fixed last week by my local MG dealer replacing the complete steering column under warranty.

I’ve had the first service £115 and no software updates. I have a Rolec charger and British Gas Electric Driver tariff which cost me £0.04p/kW. Summer range 270ish miles. Winter range 210-230ish mlies.

Favourite winter feature - pre heat the cabin, just wonderful.

How I use my car

• Drive it like I always have ICE cars
• Use the heater when its cold and aircon when its hot
• Keep it on regen 3 (default)
• I rarely bother with ‘Eco mode’ it reduces ability to warm/cool the cabin
• I find the Sat Nav surprisingly good
• Alternatively via Apple car play use Google maps set to satellite view and 3d mode. It defaults to full screen and in my opinion the easiest sat nav to follow. You can also verbally ask google maps to take you to a destination via the steering wheel button. So easy.

I’ve had a detachable tow bar fitted for towing my trailer tent. At around 250 – 300 kg when full, the efficiency only reduces by 0.1 mile per kWh (3.6 down to 3.5 80% motorway driving)

The picture is from Camperlands in Manchester – A great bunch of guys and girls.

Oh and the MG ismart App v2.02 just worked, no issues. It now only occasionally decides not to find the car, the fix to which is open it and close it again with the key fob. It’s a shame they didn’t enhance it. For me there is no ‘battery warming’ option, did that ever work?

 

[Mgzs ev]

Second mg 100% good
gen 1 &gen 2 no errors

 

[Roldorf]

The version 2 does have a manual battery warming option, turn it on 20mins or so before you stop to charge if it's cold. Use the manual to find how to turn it on and off.

 

[Jerry]

The version 2 does have a manual battery warming option, turn it on 20mins or so before you stop to charge if it's cold. Use the manual to find how to turn it on and off.

I was referring to the Version 2.02 of the App. In the charging section under the 'bolt' drop down menu there is no option to pre heat the battery. The previous version of the App I could pre heat the battery although I never knew if that actually worked.

 

[Robf]

I was referring to the Version 2.02 of the App. In the charging section under the 'bolt' drop down menu there is no option to pre heat the battery. The previous version of the App I could pre heat the battery although I never knew if that actually worked.

Its in mine, right under schedule charging? v2.02 Iphone?

 

[scoobeesnac]

I’ve had a detachable tow bar fitted for towing my trailer tent. At around 250 – 300 kg when full, the efficiency only reduces by 0.1 mile per kWh (3.6 down to 3.5 80% motorway driving)

I'm considering a tow bar - just need to find something reasonable. PFJones/Witter are over £700 all in. :-/

 

[MG steve]

Its in mine, right under schedule charging? v2.02 Iphone?

Not there in mine but I wouldn’t use it.

 

[profdraper]

Hi – I new to posting on the forum but have been following for the past 20 months.

I’m amazed at the high volume of problems people seem to have.

Ditto, zero issues for me with both gen 1 and now gen 2 ZS EV.
Equally amazed with these kinds of social media fora, so full of whinging, disinformation and personal venting. If & when some of these defects do occur, surely that should be taken up with a service centre vs. venting unnecessary rants at the Internet. Is also apparent that so many of these things come up multiple times without any serious search or research.

 

[linkandnavi]

Hi – I new to posting on the forum but have been following for the past 20 months.

I’m amazed at the high volume of problems people seem to have.

I’ve owned both Gen1 ZS EV and for the last 14 months Gen2. I don’t know if I’m lucky or just able to read the manufacturers manual but the only problem I’ve had was the ‘clicking’ occasionally coming from the steering wheel/column. That was fixed last week by my local MG dealer replacing the complete steering column under warranty.

I’ve had the first service £115 and no software updates. I have a Rolec charger and British Gas Electric Driver tariff which cost me £0.04p/kW. Summer range 270ish miles. Winter range 210-230ish mlies.

Favourite winter feature - pre heat the cabin, just wonderful.

How I use my car

• Drive it like I always have ICE cars
• Use the heater when its cold and aircon when its hot
• Keep it on regen 3 (default)
• I rarely bother with ‘Eco mode’ it reduces ability to warm/cool the cabin
• I find the Sat Nav surprisingly good
• Alternatively via Apple car play use Google maps set to satellite view and 3d mode. It defaults to full screen and in my opinion the easiest sat nav to follow. You can also verbally ask google maps to take you to a destination via the steering wheel button. So easy.

I’ve had a detachable tow bar fitted for towing my trailer tent. At around 250 – 300 kg when full, the efficiency only reduces by 0.1 mile per kWh (3.6 down to 3.5 80% motorway driving)

The picture is from Camperlands in Manchester – A great bunch of guys and girls.

Oh and the MG ismart App v2.02 just worked, no issues. It now only occasionally decides not to find the car, the fix to which is open it and close it again with the key fob. It’s a shame they didn’t enhance it. For me there is no ‘battery warming’ option, did that ever work?

I think you have to remember that forums will always be skewed towards negative experiences in that they are by and large where people go to find help or answers.

Most people, if they go for a drive to the supermarket and get home without incident, won't go onto a forum and post about doing so. (Some will of course!). But if you go for a drive to the supermarket, the brakes fail and the wheel falls off, that's the kind of thing you might post about.

Less extreme, if you plug your car in and it charges, you're unlikely to create a post about it because it's doing what it's supposed to. But if you plug it in and it won't charge, you might post because you want suggestions etc.

So the majority of posts are likely to be complaint/issue/fault related but that doesn't mean it's reflective of the "silent majority" so to speak. I'm active on the Tesla forums and it's the same everywhere.

 

[Waterstoney]

My ZS LR shows 351 miles range with normal drive mode in Summer.

It shows 279 miles range in ECO at 1°C last week. With 50% battery capacity, I drove 136 miles.
- I drove 50 miles from London to Cambridge with a student and his 100kg luggages, 21°C heating 50 to 70 miles speed, consuming 21% battery capacity with 3.1 miles/kWh efficiency. Average trip speed was 50.6 miles/h.
- Return trip was without passenger, no heating, 50 to 60 miles/h speed consuming 17% battery capacity. Total 100 miles London Cambridge M11 motorway return trip was with 3.5 miles/kWh efficiency.
- London city commuting trips were with 3.8 to 4.3 miles/kWh efficiency at cold temperature between 1 to 5°C.

I kept my last hybrid car for 14 years. I hope I will keep my ZS EV for 15 years. So far I drove my 23reg EV for 3200 miles with 3.9 miles/kWh efficiency in past 10 months.

 

[Jerry]

Very odd - the same App 2.02 some showing battery warming and others no option???
Is it different for different models i.e. between MG 4,5 and ZS???

For reference - my car is a Nov '22 ZS EV Trophy LR - no updates since new
Original APP showed battery heating and the updated App has no option

Strange, very strange

Ditto, zero issues for me with both gen 1 and now gen 2 ZS EV.
Equally amazed with these kinds of social media fora, so full of whinging, disinformation and personal venting. If & when some of these defects do occur, surely that should be taken up with a service centre vs. venting unnecessary rants at the Internet. Is also apparent that so many of these things come up multiple times without any serious search or research.

Agreed. With my steering column fault I just took it to my local MG dealer who said 'yep that's not right' and replaced it under warranty. Problem solved. No public venting or beating up MG.

I couldn't be happier (other than the rather under whelming App, it could do so much more) with the car data. I don't have a heavy right foot but don't try and 'hypermile' either and still get close to the published figures. Great car, great price and more reliable than several Audi's I have previously owned

 

[DBedford]

Not there in mine but I wouldn’t use it.

Delete the cache, delete the app and reinstall. The heater option should then appear.

 

[Jerry]

Delete the cache, delete the app and reinstall. The heater option should then appear.

Hallelujah! I just logged out and back in again and hey presto the battery heating option appeared.

Great tip - Thank you

 

[BeardedZs]

We've only had our car for around a month and, I have to say, I love it. The hassle with the door locks was sorted quickly and the result is a car that's comfortable, fun to drive, economical to run and who's build quality is as good as, or better than, any I've owned, no unwanted creams or rattles. The dash is a good mix of old and new in terms of it's display and the sound system works really well. At my age this may well be the last car I buy - ask me how I feel about it in 10 years!

Ooh, and the heater works really well, too, now I know not to keep the car in eco mode when I'm cold

 

[DJFG]

Delete the cache, delete the app and reinstall. The heater option should then appear.

Worked like a charm

 

[enjoylife]

Had my Gen2 Long range for 18 months and only real issues I have are the interior plastic creaks and rattles - they are just too annoying for me and doesn’t feel solid build. The dealer have had a couple of goes at fixing them but it keeps coming back so no good.

Anyone else experiencing this or am I simply unlucky and got a bad piece!!?

 

[Gadget Geek]

If you use the search function, I seem to recall there were a couple of threads about a speaker being loose and a creak from near the windscreen (and how to fix them).